Landscape Staple Locator?

Dave K · Mar 31, 2020

I need a detector to locate Landscape Staples used to secure lawn seed germination matting so I can remove them. These landscape staples are five and a half inch long, 1 inch wide inverted "U"-shaped wire staples pushed down flush with the surface. The wire is approximately 11 guage, made of steel.
The area to be searched is large, so the detector instantaneous sensitive area should not be too small. Also, since these staples should not be removed until the grass has grown for a full season, I would like to be able to detect the staples from a height of perhaps six inches above the ground.
I assume there must be metal detectors that can find these easily. I would like advice about what technology I should look for in a metal detector for this task, such as frequency, coil type and size, etc., as I have no experience with these instruments.
Your comments would be most helpful and appreciated.

jmaclen · Apr 1, 2020

Any decent used or new $300 or less hobby detector with a 11" or so coil will find those. You could buy a new Garret Ace 300, Nokta Makro Simplex, Minelab Vanquish (any model), Fisher F22 or F44, Teknetics Minuteman, Whites Treasuremaster, to name a few and there are many more new and used ones.

You just want to have it set up so no metals are rejected or discriminated and you have an iron tone and maybe a higher tone or two. You will get low and high tones on the staples with some jumpy target IDs from the lowest number to pretty high. Once you buy or borrow a detector, try it out on a practice staple stuck in the ground like the ones you used on the project before hunting for the ones you want to remove.

Jeff

graybeard · Apr 1, 2020

My first choice detector for doing that would be a DFX and use mixed mode.

Dave K · Apr 23, 2020

Update:
I took a chance and bought a detector in the $100 range for this job. It is a MineLab GoFind 11, and it turned out to be more than adequate for the task.

Scooterjim · Apr 23, 2020

Did you find any thing other than your staples?

The only advantage with a higher price detector is you could discriminate other metals and trash and only hear stuff in the staple range. you might gain an inch or 2 as well.

Dave K · Apr 24, 2020

Yes, found some scraps of tin and a number of the wires that were used to tie up bundles of staples that the landscaper just discarded when they installed the mat. It also seemed to respond to underground phone lines in the area also.

SeabeeRon · Apr 24, 2020

Dave K said:
Update:
I took a chance and bought a detector in the $100 range for this job. It is a MineLab GoFind 11, and it turned out to be more than adequate for the task.

Glad it worked out for you David!

I was just curious why you needed to removed the staples?

Cfmct · Apr 24, 2020

Dave K said:
Yes, found some scraps of tin and a number of the wires that were used to tie up bundles of staples that the landscaper just discarded when they installed the mat. It also seemed to respond to underground phone lines in the area also.

Guess the landscaper went cheap... I use biodegradable stakes when putting down sod...

Beachhunter · Apr 24, 2020

Biodegradable stakes are a great idea. Laying sod was not much fun for me. I laid about 4000 square feet of Marathon and it was one of the hardest workouts I ever had.

Dave K · Apr 24, 2020

The county had to replace a culvert drainage pipe that crosses an easement on my property. Their contractor followed the reseeding with a wood fiber mat secured with these staples. Some hit rocks and didn't go all the way in. There were a few bent ones lying around on top. Even if they are driven in flush, the frost could lift them up before they rust away. I feared for lawn mower damage, so after the grass came up I removed them, at least all I could find. Right after the mat was put in I put spray paint on all that I could find so I could find them later after the grass came up. I got the metal detector to be sure I didn't miss any. Turns out I missed quite a few, including a couple of entire rows of staples. Just finished pulling them yesterday-all 650 of them. A real PITA. Family had a pool on the quantity-largest estimate was 35% low....BTW, the wood fiber mat worked well-It traps heat and the grass came up beautifully. Downside is it has a very fine plastic mesh (1"x1") on top that is supposed to biodegrade. Hope it does, because the mower won't like it if it doesn't.

SeabeeRon · Apr 24, 2020

Dave K said:
The county had to replace a culvert drainage pipe that crosses an easement on my property. Their contractor followed the reseeding with a wood fiber mat secured with these staples. Some hit rocks and didn't go all the way in. There were a few bent ones lying around on top. Even if they are driven in flush, the frost could lift them up before they rust away. I feared for lawn mower damage, so after the grass came up I removed them, at least all I could find. Right after the mat was put in I put spray paint on all that I could find so I could find them later after the grass came up. I got the metal detector to be sure I didn't miss any. Turns out I missed quite a few, including a couple of entire rows of staples. Just finished pulling them yesterday-all 650 of them. A real PITA. Family had a pool on the quantity-largest estimate was 35% low....BTW, the wood fiber mat worked well-It traps heat and the grass came up beautifully. Downside is it has a very fine plastic mesh (1"x1") on top that is supposed to biodegrade. Hope it does, because the mower won't like it if it doesn't.

Thanks David, best of luck with your new lawn!

Landscape Staple Locator?

Dave K

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graybeard

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Dave K

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Dave K

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